Systems of leisure travel information provision and use

1
Systems of leisure travel information provision
and use

• The Grey Market and the Internet

Alice Gräupl
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Outline

• Introduction
• Definitions incl. original aspect 1
• Literature
• Methodology incl. original aspect 2
• Selected results
• Conclusions

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What is my research about?

• Online decision-making
• Experiences and processes
• Impact of the Internet on decision-making
• Consumer requirements
• Grey market
• Silver surfers

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Grey Market What is a silver surfer?

• Marvel comic super hero
• or
• gt 50 years old
• Active Internet user
• Why study them?

Source marvel.com
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Life begins over 50
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Literature

• Culture, consumption
• Information society and age
• ICTs focus on the Internet
• Focus on the individual and not the technology
• Tourist motivation

• Decision-making models
• Traditional models
• New frameworks
• Tourist information search
• Online information search (tbc)
• The older consumer

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Online information search

• Information search activity through the
  Internet
• Distinct differences btw on- and offline
• Search and compare
• Search/purchase advertising/selling
• Cost efficiency 24/7 access
• Real time communication tools (live chats)
• Worldwide access, new boundary definitions of the
  target market

• Concerns
• Mainly for information purposes, low percentage
  of buyers
• Technical difficulties, CC security, no
  assessment of product quality, privacy issues

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Life stage factors

• Silver surfers or Greynetters
• More experienced consumers, experience comes with
  age, more confidence
• Marketing misconceptions

• Similar behavioural patterns within life stages
• Purchasing behaviour changes with time therefore
  also information needs will change
• A process of knowledge acquisition

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Methods

• Inductive positivism
• Triangulated research
• Qualitative
• Quantitative
• Pilot study Interviews
  Questionnaires

• Restrictions on age, location and Internet usage
• Convenience and snowball sample
• e-surveying
• (Litvin Kar, 2001)

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e-surveying

• An extension of traditional data collection
• Reach mass number of respondents in an efficient
  and cost-effective manner
• Internet for sampling purposes
• E-mail with questionnaires as attachments
• 517 valid responses
• No way of telling an accurate response rate

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Silver surfer profile

• 42 are 50-54 years old
• 50.5 female vs. 49.5 male
• 68.1 employed
• 22.4 with UG degree

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Experiences of Silver surfers

• I have used it ever since it came online.
• (Interviewee 5)
• My wife, our friends and I were looking into
  booking a holiday together and ended up doing it
  all online.
• (Interviewee 1)

• Yes, I have booked a special offer once or twice
  but usually I spend a longer time looking for
  particular information when it comes to deciding
  on where to go on holiday. Sometimes I just sit
  there and look for general travel information,
  too.
• (Interviewee 3)

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Information overload?

• Again, I have to say that I thought the Internet
  would be easier to use. The lack of index is
  still a problem for me. I know how to use search
  engines but somehow its not the same.
• (Interviewee 4)

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Expectations ... Met?

• I expected so much more to be honest. For
  something to be so hyped up and then not that
  easy to use there is no apparent structure it
  was rather disappointing. I felt somehow cheated
  and decided to only use it for work purposes
  which later on changed.
• (Interviewee 2)

• There was no index that I could make use of.
  With a book, you know how to open it, you know
  how to find the index and read it, find what you
  are looking for and then check the page for the
  information you need. The Internet is not at all
  like that. I have to admit I expected it to be
  similar though, I thought that search engines
  might be like an index which I admit, they are
  in a way but easier to use.
• (Interviewee 4)

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The reality ...

• The Internet has taught me to be as vague as
  possible.
• (Interviewee 5)

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Information searched for
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Decision-making process
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Too old to use the Internet?

• It took me some time but now I really think that
  I can find all the information I need on the
  Internet.
• (Interviewee 2)
• I can see why people think the Internet is too
  youth orientated but the truth is that there is
  information on there for everyone. It might take
  some time till you find it but there are websites
  that are especially made for older people. They
  even post links so you know where you have to go
  to find the specific things you want or need.
• (Interviewee 5)

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One major difference

• I dont want to spend all day looking for
  information on the Internet. I mainly use it when
  I know what I need, look it up and shut it down
  again.
• (Interviewee 3)

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Trust a major factor?
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Online booking

• 77.6 bookers
• 22.6 non-bookers (not yet anyway)

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Conclusions

• Grey market is a viable market segment
• Numerous active Internet users and travellers
• Internet usage to fulfil information needs

• Potential for more research due to limitations of
  this research e.g. in depth information needs and
  search techniques

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Thank you!

• To my colleagues in Auckland and one in
  particular, thank you for your patience and
  support!